For the people who write on there computer, do you use Microsoft Word? I do, and I quite don't know how to set my whole story up (Title page, dedication, etc.) and for those of you who do, how do you set it up? Just wondering.
While you're in the process of writing it, there's really no wrong way to do it. It's whatever you think looks good. If you're planning on publishing, well... Different publishes have different requirements, so you'll have to get that from them. And if you're asking how I personally set it up, I like to center the title, perhaps with bold or italics, and underline the names of chapters. If I'm going to be posting the writing online, I leave out all indentations and add an extra space in between paragraphs. If I won't be uploading it, or if it's for my novel, I use normal paragraph formatting.
I write it top to bottom . Just kidding. If you want more on how to use MS Word, try this tutorial: MS Word Tutorial I suggest looking at the "Page Breaks" at Lesson five for learning how to separate chapters (so you don't have them ending and beginning on the same pages). You also might want to look up margins and paragraph formatting. I could give you the whole MS Word tour, but it would take forever to type and I'm not made of time. Honestly, MS Word is one of those things you learn in by just using it and seeing what various options do. Might want to try just taking a random document, and messing around with options to see what happens (don't save the changes though).
haha...nice one. bottom to top...lol well, i'll see the tutorial then. oop, i only have 2001 of MS word
It really won't matter. There are minuet differences but all MS Word versions are fundamentally the same in their basic functions which should be all you need.
I know this won't work for the OP since she's on Mac and not Windows, but you can click here to download a manuscript template if you use Word 2007, 2003, or 97. It may already be a template that's in your Word program, though. I have Word 2007, and it's listed as "book manuscript" among the templates available.
I have a Word document template I created, named Manuscript. It uses a 12 point Courier New font, double spacing, no leading/trailing vertical space on paragraphs, a half inch first line indent on each paragraph, etc, based on the most common requirements I've seen for publisher submissions. I also have special styles in it for elements that may vary from pne publisher to another. For example, I have a style called Internal dialogue (defaults to normal text, and I never enclose it in quote marks, but I can convert it globally to italics if a publisher happens to prefer that). I use that document template only for fiction and poetry - it's not a perfect fit for poetry, but it's close enough. It's not the look I want for general documents, which is why I make it a named template rather than modifying Normal.dot. EDIT: Marina, you posted while I was composing my post. Great resource for those who aren't familiar enough with document templates to jump in and "roll their own".
OMG!! How do you do that?!?! Small things... I use openoffice cause it exports straight to PDF (Plus it was free and works with all operating systems - we've got microsoft, mac and linux all through the house so helps to have a programme that crosses over ). But when I'm writing I just go for it, the format's all over the place. Then you can neaten it up during one of the many hundred drafts that follow.
If it's an electronic submission, Use 12 point courier font and don't indent paragraphs, just leave a space between them.
That's not the most common submission guideline. However, if youi encounter a publisher who does prefer it that way, just submit a copy of the MS with the paragraph properties altered. And yes, 12 point is what;s in my template, not 9.
i use word... here's most of what you need to know about ms format: http://www.shunn.net/format/ if anything's missing, email me and i'll show you how to do it... love and hugs, maia
